New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1887-02-16
SACRAMENTO.
It was an odd name for girl-Sacra

stopped down beside spring at the foot
Of a cotton wood tree and lazily dropped
her pail into the water
Tt ought to have been given to boy
If it was fit name to give anybody"
she said quite aloud "But Tn more
boy than girl, anyway"
This fact was added rather bitterly,
as she looked at her brown, rough
hands and her bare ankles, and thought
Of the "boy's work" she had to do.
And it was hard to believe that this
was the best kind of life for young
girl like Sacramento Here she lived
alone, for her father was down at the
mouth Of the canon all day The gar
den work she was obliged to do, and the
care of the cattle fell upon her. It was
not often that she saw any person but
her father, although now and then, in
spite of herself, she cams in contact
with the rude men OF the mining camp
up above.
Yet Sacramento had her dream, one
chat she Scarcely dared own," but it
work.
She knew that down at Santa Barba-
ra and in the towns along the coast, and
far, far away across wide stretches OF
continent to the great east, there were
girls who lived very different from her
life, and she dreamed of such life for
herself.
ooh, if could only so away from
here!" she cried out, almost as one cries
out for help" If I could only go down
to San francisco and go to school there
for a single yeart All, if I only had
$500"
Suddenly there was a step-not of a
man, but horse-on the bank behind
her, and then some one spoke. She
! knew the voice without looking up It
was Pete Larrabee, fellow who lived
down on Hahnemanns plantation, two
miles along the trail. He sometimes
rode by. He had not heard her last
words at all; yet strangely enough his
own were a repetition Of them.
Five hundred dollars, Sac," said he,
$500 in gold! Dye want to earn it 5?
| Theirs yer chance" and he threw down
to her bit Of paper crumpled into a
ball.
She picked it up, and slowly unfold
| ing it, ran her eye over it's contents:
$500 REWARD.
The above amount will be paid for in
formation leading to the arrest, dead or
alive, OF Walter Somers who has worked
for some time past on Maxwell's ranch
Said Somers is about Is years old and
81 feet high, rather good looking, with
light, curly hair, blue eyes and light
moustache When last seen he had on
a black SLOUGH hat, gray business suit
with blue flannel shirt, and boots with
red tops marked with the makers name.
The name of the county sheriff was
signed at the bottom of the bill. Sacra-
mento, having glanced it through, looked
up.
"He's been stealth horses" ex,
claimed Pete. Scot off last night with
four Of Maxwell's best somewheres.
That reward won't do much good
though. The Regulators'u lasso him
and string him up long fore the law'll
i git started. They're havin' meetin
now up at the Gulch. 1 tell We they
are mad. They'll make quick work il
they ketch him. Yer fathers there.
Ye needn't look for him home afore
night, much"
Then, after word or two more, the
man rode on, and presently Sacramento
took up her pail, and with the sheriff
bill still in her, hand went slowly up the
bank and across the trail toward the
house, thinking very seriously about
the $500 all the while.
It was some hours after this, and the
afternoon sun was going down behind
the tops of the mountains, that Sacra-
mento, having finished her housework,
was preparing to sit down on the porch
to do her sewing, when she was met in
the doorway by young man she had
never seen before. And yet he was no
stranger. The girl knew him Instantly
! although the sit ,Nch hat was pulled
down over the f1axen hair and blue ewes,
! .AAA VIZ Sly I'AAcoJ GoA IL ibuu IuuClUy Z,
had been drawn out of the boot-legs SO
as to no longer allow the red tops O. the
boots with the owners name to be seen,
It was the horse-thief.
She did not, however, express any
surprise as she saw him. She was ac-
customed to the sight of rough, evil
men; and at the first. glance she had
felt that this one could not be either
very wicked or very dangerous. He was
not much more than lad, and had an
sir of gentleness and good breeding
about him that six months of western
life, and the miserable plight he was in
at that moment had by no means de
stroyed. He seemed to be short for
breath, too, and was trembling as if he
had been running.
I Instinctively he raised his hand to.
! ward his hat, and then, bethinking him
self, dropped it again.
Could you give me something to cal